Page 153 of Secrets on Ice

Cassidy looks at me over Ember’s head, and she gives me a look that says … Go.

So, I go. I stand out in the hall with the door half open and blood drying on my face, listening to Cassidy murmur to her, soft and steady, and I listen to Ember cry, and there is not one single thing I can do about any of it.

After a while, Cassidy comes to the door. “She’s going to sleep in my room tonight,” she says quietly. She reaches up, touches near the scratch on my cheek, and winces. “You should clean that.”

“I know.”

“Sully, I wish you hadn’t seen that,” she tells me.

“I just wanted to help,” I tell her.

“I know …” she says sadly, “I’m sorry.”

“I’m fine, Cass.” She nods and disappears down the corridor.

I head back to bed where sleep never finds me again.

I’m already awake, I never really slept, and I lie there listening to the soft sounds of the girls moving around. I make myself get up because if I don’t face her now, I’ll spend all day dreading it. She’s in the kitchen making coffee, and when she sees me, she goes still. Her eyes go straight to my face, to the four red lines down my cheek, and her whole body seems to fold in on itself.

“Morning,” I say, keeping it easy.

“Morning.” Cassidy smiles but it quickly fades when she sees my face.

“Sully.” Ember’s voice is small and raw. “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry, I don’t … I don’t even remember doing it, I just …”

“Hey, it’s okay.” I move toward her without thinking, reaching out, like I would with anyone I love who’s hurting, and she flinches. Not much, just a small step back, a flicker, her body deciding before her brain can catch up. But I see it, and she sees me see it, and the shame that floods her face is worse than any scratch. I stop and put my hands back down, keeping them where she can see them.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I didn’t mean to … I know it’s you. I know you’d never. I just …”

“You don’t have to explain anything to me.” It takes everything I have to keep my voice level. “Not a single thing, okay?”

She nods, arms wrapped around herself and she won’t meet my eyes.

“I’m gonna head to the gym,” I say because I can’t stand in this kitchen one more second watching her be afraid of me. “I’ll get out of your hair.”

“Sully …” she calls out.

“It’s fine, Em. I’ll see you later.”

I leave before either of us can make it worse.

Emmett and Fish are already at the gym when I get there. Emmett clocks my face across the room before I’ve even put my bag down. He comes over, and Emmett’s jaw tightens when he sees the scratches up close.

“What the hell happened to you?”

“Ember had a nightmare,” I say. “I went in to wake her and she … she didn’t know it was me. Thought I was the guy from the club.”

Emmett’s face flickers with anger and concern all at once. He knows exactly what this is costing me, and I can see he wants to say a hundred things he can’t say with Fish standing right there.

“Is she okay?” Is all he says.

“No,” I say honestly. “Not really.”

Fish winces at my cheek. “She got you good.”

“It’s nothing,” I tell them.

“That’s not nothing.” Emmett’s watching me too closely. “Sully …”